Journey to Israel: Iranian Threats, The Diaspora, & Sea of Galilee

8/28/15 I’ve been blessed to interact with some exceptionally gifted persons on this trip and wanted to do something different. I woke up early in the morning and simply wanted to pray and meditate. As I begin to think of the complicated issues that we were being exposed to, I wanted to pray for the nation of Israel and its leaders. I meditated upon the following scripture:

 Psalm 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.

I asked God to raise just leaders and to dismantle all sources of ruin, confusion, and chaos. As I thought about these things, I realized that the persons I’m blessed to share this trip with desire the peace of Jerusalem. I then began to pronounce blessings over them, their families, and ministries. It was an amazing site to behold the sky being illuminated early in the morning while worshiping the great Creator God.

This morning we had a briefing on the Iranian threat to Israel with a former member of the IDF. We spent time discussing the nuclear program and the deal signed with Iran on its nuclear program known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Iran has accumulated nuclear materials and the deal places a cap on the nuclear capabilities in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. He specifically mentioned that Iranian leadership is committed to the destruction of Israel. He also described a growing focus on ISIS that deflects real attention from the Iranians who are the largest supporters of terrorism. Using an analogy of Pharaoh’s dream that only Joseph could interpret, he believes that we are in the seven years of plenty and abundance before famine breaks out in the land.

Next we traveled to the Museum of the Diaspora to learn more about the documented Aliya (“ascension” to Israel) and absorption of the Ethiopian Jews into Israel over the past 30 years. This was a great stop because I wanted to make sure I learned more about the cultural art of Israel to gain a broader perspective of the nation. Our guide mentioned that the exhibit wouldn’t simply present historical information but would explore what makes the Jews maintain their identity even while being forced to spread out into other parts of the world. I really enjoyed an artist’s depiction of the Jews rebelling against God in the wilderness while Moses is receiving the 10 commandments. This picture showed the failure of the Jews, the ongoing activity of everyday life activities, and God’s interaction with it all.

The exhibit we spent the most time in was the Ethiopian Jews section. There is a portion of it that allows the Ethiopians to tell their own perspective of struggling to absorb into Israel and their experience with racism. This included struggles with employment, interracial marriage, and the sense of separation and displacement. The videos that played allowed the Ethiopians being interviewed to control the message by telling their own version of it. This is an important part of remembering in that you can’t allow your story to be told by another outside of your experience. It was a powerful example of how to remember one’s experiences.

One of the most intriguing photos to me was the one of Madagascar after mistaking the people of being Filipino (thanks Brian). I also thought it was interesting how each culture reinterpreted the expression of the Jewish faith and symbols into their own culture. There were even images in Africa of women reading from the Torah.

On the road again and on our way to a briefing with a northern border expert that would provide a visual display of how close Israel is to its enemies in the north. Even before we got started, we were given a warning that this would be complicated. Sounds familiar to me. First, Hizballah is a Shi’ite terrorist’s organization that receives funding from Iran. Shi’ites operates mostly in Iraq and Iran with a history of feeling insulted and treated as a lower class version of Islam. Our guide mentioned that the Shi’ites in that area have amassed over 40,000 rockets in the Southern region of Lebanon which is what we were observing. Most of the rockets are also in homes (backyards) with the hub of most operations in the center of densely populated civilian locations. This means that any Israeli response to an attack will result in civilian casualties.

Our guide then described the three ways they attempt to defend the border with Iron dome, Air Force, and Surveillance. Iron Dome is a military defense system that is able to intercept many but not all incoming rockets. The Air Force is used to eliminate targets with high accuracy to minimize collateral damage. Our guide then mentioned that the most important part was the surveillance unit that gathers information in order to prevent attacks from happening and limit collateral damage. Collateral damage is allowed by international law in response to a military attack, sufficient warning to the civilian population, and must be proportional. With the complexity and the continued threat there was a powerful image in the background. The highest mountain in the background is Mount Hermon.

If you can recall David penned a psalm after he was able to unite the twelve tribes and possibly looking at this particular mountain which reads:

Psalms 133:1-3 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

You can actually see the white cap mountains in the area, and I had an opportunity to join hands in prayer with my brothers Francys, Donte, and Theron before leaving.

Next we traveled back to our hotel which was right along the sea of Galilee which will explore in more detail tomorrow. As I stood outside of my window I could see the Golan Heights to the east. I then looked across the street and saw a cemetery thinking this could be near the place of Gadara where the man with the legion of demons lived among the tombs.

Mark 5:1-2 And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,

I asked Avi and he said, “No, Tyrone.” (Which was a common theme throughout the trip). “It’s further southeast along the Sea of Galilee.” Oh well, a young man can dream.

As a side note, Avi and I have built quite the relationship. I was trying to learn how to say the various names of God with a Hebraic accent and I think I had a 10% success rate. I tried, I tried, and I kept on trying. I would try during random moments of the trip such as rest stops, dinners, and in between discussions. He even quipped once, “You are absolutely butchering the names of God.” I’m sure I wore him out with my questions and discussions, but he was an absolute good sport about it. Avi was great and has a vast reservoir of knowledge. I’ve officially added Hebrew to the list of languages that I plan to learn in the future.

Next was an optional baptism in the Sea of Galilee. It was another memorable moment shared with a great group of people. As we prepared for the experience, I’m certain each of us had an expectation of what it would be like. We might have assumed that it would be identical to some of the previous moments we’ve had on the trip. But as we got close to the site chosen for the baptism, there was a large group of local youth enjoying the beach.

As we began to pray, they turned up their music and continued smoking from their bong. Yes, that’s what was going on. Some of the youth asked what we were doing. We attempted to explain, but some things were lost in translation. As we begin singing songs such as “Take Me to the Water” some of the local folks begin to mock, curse, and even hurled some racial epithets in our direction. As I saw this unfolding, I developed a greater appreciation for the persons that I will no longer call my trip participants because they are my brothers and my sisters in Christ. In the midst of what was happening they maintained their witness, their resolve, their commitment to Christ, and their desire for renewal in that moment. We prayed together. We cried together. We repented together. Everything was done together and it was another powerful moment for us. Towards the end, one of the young men even asked how to sing some of the songs that we were sung. The moments we’ve shared on this trip have connected us to the Israelis, Ethiopian Jews, Jews near enemy territory, etc. but in this moment, we were connected to the early Christian church that was mocked and shamed for their convictions. These folks stayed the course and we had a beautiful ceremony.

We then got ready and traveled to a fantastic restaurant on the dock. It had some incredible food. Alicia and Ilana kept warning us to pace ourselves, but it was really good. I lost steam by the time we got to the steak and fries.

Everyone at the table was describing how tired we were and how much sleep we were planning to get until we received a shot of adrenaline in our spirits. While seated on the dock, a boat along the Sea of Galilee welcomed us with a fireworks display.

It was really nice and then we watched as the boat got closer and closer and closer to where we were sitting and it docked. We went on a boat ride that evening on the Sea of Galilee. We had an awesome time. We laughed and laughed and danced and danced. Ilana did the wobble with us. LOL One of the brothers even asked the rhetorical question of whether Jesus knew while he was walking on the sea that we would be boating on the sea listening to Future and Beyonce in this moment. Brandon even brought a revelation about being a light on a hill. We could see in the horizon two hills. One had a light and the other had none. The one with the light had a shine and brilliance all throughout the hill while the one with no light was nearly black.

Matthew 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.